Updated November 27, 2007  -- After being shot and wounded in his Florida home, Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor has died. The 24-year-old football player was shot Monday during a home invasion and died this morning at a Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital.

According to Taylor's former attorney Richard Sharpstein, "The blood loss was too much. He didn't make it." “He never regained consciousness after the shooting, Sharpstein told CNN.”It's a senseless, tragic death that was so unnecessary, another example of the incessant violence in – not only our community – but the country now.

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Almost without exception, every major city in America is seeing record numbers of young people – mostly African American males – die as a result of gun violence.

Black men are America's primary crime victims. Black men over 18 are only 4 percent of this country's population, yet more are hospitalized for assault injuries each year than women and girls of all races combined. More black men died from homicide in 2004 alone than all the children aged 10 and under in the previous five years. 

Today, even after years of mostly falling crime rates, black men still die from homicide at extraordinary rates. Black death rates from homicide in 2002 were almost six times that of whites. Black men 15 to 24 years old are most vulnerable – some 85 per 100,000 died in 2004 from homicide, compared to a national average of six per 100,000.

The contribution of social factors to the health problems of African American men deserves further attention than thus far received. When an African-American celebrity, such as Sean Taylor, dies in such a tragic death, most people look at the situation as a rare occurrence.  However, the reality is that this happens everyday in the Black community.  African American violence is one of the top 10 killers of African Americans and is and has been a public health epidemic.

BlackDoctor.org is the world’s largest and most comprehensive online health resource specifically targeted to African-Americans.

Hit "Discuss Now" to the talk about how we can put an end to the senseless deaths of Black men.

Plus, check out what other BET.comers are saying about the tragedy.